Equity Initiatives

The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society commits to the following policy objectives to further the ongoing work of promoting anti-racism and furthering equity. We understand that these actions are first steps in the ongoing role we play in ensuring that poetry is accessible and empowering to all. We agree to review and extend actions dedicated to anti-oppression and equity. Here are the actions we have committed to supporting this year:

1. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will ensure a minimum of 50% of all poets and authors contracted for all Festival’s programming will be Indigenous, Black, and people of colour (IBPOC).
2. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will increase artist fees for full readings at the Festival to be in line with The Writers’ Union of Canada’s author rates.
3. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will engage with a Black curator and an Indigenous curator at the festival, who will be given both artist fees and the resources to organize events that suit their community.
4. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society pledges $1000.00 to Black Arts Matter, recognizing the transformative power of literature and the contributions Black poets have made to the arts in the face of the unique, systemic oppression faced by the Black community.
5. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society commits to providing two annual bursaries of $1000 a year for a Black student poet and an Indigenous student poet to further their writing goals.
6. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will create of an Equity and Anti-Oppression Committee and agrees to provide anti-oppression training for board and staff.
7. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will implement an expanded Safer Spaces policy for all events and programming.
8. The Edmonton Poetry Festival Society will provide free memberships to all IBPOC poets.